A weekly blessing: St. Francis Xavier students bring joy and prayer to Pine Crest residents

Students from St. Francis Xavier Catholic School are cultivating deep, personal relationships with the residents of Pine Crest Health and Memory Care, continuing a tradition that has evolved into a vital “Ministry of Presence.” The facility, formerly known as Pine Crest Nursing Home, welcomes the students for prayer visits that residents describe as immensely meaningful.

History and evolution of the ministry
The students visit each Friday. This weekly practice involves rotating grades so that a different group participates each week. The week I tagged along, St. Francis fourth and fifth graders were doing the prayer visits.
Over the years, student visits have evolved, said Kay A. Berg, Director of Faith Formation at St. Francis Xavier Parish and Catholic School. From historically event-focused visits to today’s very personal, individual visits with residents, the school and students have demonstrated a continuous desire to connect with the residents over the years, emphasizing the church’s teachings about the value of life from conception until natural death, with this mission work being focused on the community’s elderly and memory-impaired residents.
• Pre-COVID: Before 2020, visits were held occasionally, primarily for holidays and other events.

• The COVID response (2020-2021): When the pandemic began in 2020, Berg started teaching at St. Francis. She said the school had seen reports that in other areas of the country, students were making posters of encouragement and walking past the windows of nursing home residents.
“So I started thinking, ‘What can we do for Pine Crest since it is so close to us?’” Berg said.
Berg and Brianna Vandenhuevel, Pine Crest’s Activities Coordinator, came up with the idea of building snowmen outside the windows so residents would have something to see all winter. St. Francis students built the snowmen during Catholic Schools Week in January 2021.
“We loved doing it, and the residents loved it as well,” Berg said.
• Shift to rosary (circa 2022): Beginning around 2022, students from the school began coming on Friday mornings to pray a rosary, reviving a practice St. Francis parishioners had done prior to COVID. Berg said the teachers and students were always wanting to make a connection with the residents when they visited.
• Evolution to room visits: However, post-COVID, the large-group rosary initially attracted only a few residents, sometimes two or three. One week there was only one resident who could join them, and a staff member asked if they would want to go into the residents’ rooms to visit that week.
“So we did,” Berg said. “When we went into their rooms, I started asking if we could pray with them. Everyone said YES!”
That successful change resulted in the current model of individual room visits, fostering personal relationships between the students and residents.
“So this became our service,” Berg said. “Each Friday we go into residents rooms who are either Catholic or who would like us to come in and we pray with them.”

The routine: Weekly prayer in resident rooms

The evolution of the visits has led to the current, more personal model. Students now go into individual residents’ rooms to visit and pray and will come in to pray with anyone who welcomes them, whether they are Catholic or not. [If you have a family member at Pine Crest who would like the students to pray with them on their weekly visits, notify Vandenhuevel or Holly Boehm, Life Enrichment Aide at Pine Crest, to be added to the list.]
Berg said the staff at Pine Crest are super friendly and kind, helping the teachers and children navigate the building each week to go to the rooms of each resident on the list for their visits.
The weekly visits have been “so very fruitful for them and for our students,” Berg said. “We are building relationships with them and getting to know them personally.”
The connection between students and residents has grown so strong that even during prayer time at school, students remember their new friends. Berg said that whenever she asks students who they should pray for, “someone always says ‘our friends at Pine Crest.’”
As the students move from room to room, they perform specific acts of ministry.

Shared prayer, personal connections and blessings
The students gather in each resident’s room and fold their hands in prayer. Berg, who leads the group of children and the conversation with the resident, accompanied by other teachers or St. Francis staff, guides them through traditional prayers that the students recite in unison, including the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be.
Following the traditional prayers, Berg talks with the resident about any specific needs or prayer requests. Then Berg and all the students lift their arms and extend their hands toward the resident during a personalized blessing and prayer.
During their visit with Shirley Schnae, Berg showed the visiting children a book Shirley was reading daily. During the prayer, she asked God to “send your healing touch down upon Shirley,” to bless her family, and to keep them “healthy and happy and safe.”
Berg also prayed for God to “help Shirley be one of your disciples and one of your children” and to “give her health, give her wisdom, give her grace.”

In Marian Perkins’ room the students brought her a bouquet of flowers and a giant birthday card in recognition of her approaching 101st birthday, pointing out the card had been signed by the entire school. They sang “Happy Birthday” to her, adding a second verse: “May the dear Lord bless you.”
In the prayer for Marian, Berg thanked God “for the gift that Marian is to this community at Pine Crest and to our community at St. Francis” and asking God to “give her the grace of a great, good, healthy life” and to “help her to feel your love, help her to feel the presence of your son Jesus in her life.”
Residents say prayer visits bring comfort, cheer, and blessings
The impact of these consistent visits is clear to the residents.
Shirley Schnae, a cradle Catholic and long-time member of St. Francis parish who has lived at Pine Crest for six years, said having the children come to pray, “feels wonderful.”
“It means a lot,” she said.
She offered a profound reflection on the value of the practice, saying it helps prepare her [for the future] and also that the days can often be long and this gives her something to look forward to.
When now 101-year-old Marian Perkins was asked what it means to have the children visit, Marian said, “Cheer. I’m so happy. I’m so blessed.”
Following the blessing the students offered for her, Marian offered her own blessing to them in return, saying, “God bless all of you. You are here today. You’re getting a long life too.”

St. Francis and Pine Crest traditions

Beyond the weekly prayers, the school has established other traditions with the residents. Last year, Vandenhuevel asked if the school could participate in a Live Nativity program that the staff puts on for the residents. Middle school students performed the program, and Berg said it was so much fun for both the students and residents that they now do it each year before Christmas.
The school also performs a Living Stations of the Cross each Lent. Last year they brought that program to Pine Crest, as well, creating another annual tradition.
“We love going to see our friends,” Berg said. “It has been such a blessing to our school and our students.”
The continuation of the St. Francis student ministry remains unaffected by the change in Pine Crest’s ownership. Berg said that with the new owners, nothing has changed.
“We are still welcomed with open arms, and the staff is super friendly and kind,” Berg said.